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Etymology and origin of the English word filler

filler1 something that fills

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1496 Records of the Borough of Nottingham
Ultimate origin
Old English fyllan
Etymology tree of filler1
inherited borrowed derived
English fill
English filler

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈfɪləː/[1]
  • US: /ˈfɪlɚ/[1]

Etymology

The noun for something that fills is formed from English fill + -er, an agent noun from the verb.[2][3][4][5][6] Fill is from Old English fyllan.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that fills: 1496, in the records of the borough of Nottingham;[2] Etymonline also dates it to the late 15th century,[3] and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1591, in Robert Greene, a filler was also something used to fill a gap or cavity or to add bulk.[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave as its first sense a thing that only takes up room, quoting Dryden on a word that is "a meer filler, to stop a vacancy in the hexameter".[7] Compounds with adverbs such as filler-in and filler-up appear from 1710, in Pope.[2][4] In Scotland a filler was a funnel for filling bottles (1782),[2][8] and in Northumberland and Durham the English Dialect Dictionary records it for a man who filled coal into tubs.[8] The 19th and 20th centuries added a filling machine (1895), with the filler cap of a petrol tank,[2] cheaper material added to food products (by 1901),[3] and the injected substances used to smooth wrinkles (1981).[2] Modern dictionaries also record its uses for paste for filling cracks before painting, the tobacco inside a cigar, and short items used to fill space in a newspaper or time in a broadcast.[9][10][11]

Timeline

  • 1496 – a person or thing that fills.[2]
  • 1591 – something used to fill a gap or add bulk.[2][3]
  • 1710 – filler-in, filler-up.[2]
  • 1782 – Scottish, a funnel.[2][8]
  • 1895 – a filling machine, with the filler cap.[2]
  • 1901 – of food products.[3]
  • 1981 – a substance injected under the skin to smooth wrinkles.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that fills something.[9][5][4]
  2. A substance or object added to increase bulk or weight, or to fill a gap: a cheap filler in the sausages.[9][5][10]
  3. A paste used to fill cracks and holes in a surface before painting.[9][10]
  4. The tobacco forming the inside of a cigar.[9][10]
  5. A short item used to fill space in a newspaper or time in a broadcast.[9][10][11]
  6. A word or sound, such as er, that fills a pause in speech.[11]
  7. A substance injected into the skin to smooth wrinkles or scars.[2]
  8. (architecture) A small joist set between and supported by two beams.[9]

Word family

  • filler cap

filler2 Hungarian coin

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1904 Statesman's Year-book
Borrowed from
Hungarian fillér
Ultimate origin
Middle High German vierer

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfɪlɛə(ɹ)/, /fɪˈlɛə(ɹ)/[1]

Etymology

The coin is borrowed from Hungarian fillér.[2][4][5][12] In Hungarian it is a borrowing of Middle High German vierer (“a small coin”), literally "the fourer", from vier (“four”).[6][13][14][15] The Hungarian dictionaries explain the l as a dissimilation of the first r,[13][14][15] and the new etymological dictionary thinks the word probably came through Bavarian-Austrian German.[14] It is recorded in Hungary from 1425, in a Latin charter that speaks of a coin "commonly called filler".[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Hungarian coin, a hundredth of the unit of currency: 1904, in the Statesman's Year-book.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Hungarian the word first meant a small coin of little value, a penny.[13][14] As a unit of account it was a hundredth of the korona before 1925, of the pengő from 1925 to 1946, and of the forint after 1946.[5] It was used as small change until 2000,[14] and since then only in calculations.[1]

Timeline

  • 1425 – Hungarian filler, in a Latin charter.[13][14]
  • 1904 – English, a Hungarian coin.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Hungarian monetary unit, one hundredth of a forint; also a coin of this value.[5][4][11] The plural is filler or fillers.[5]

Usage notes

In English dialect a filler was also a horse that goes between the shafts of a cart, from fill, a shaft; the OED records it from 1695, and Merriam-Webster labels it dialectal.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c d e Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
  15. ^ a b Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Filler.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/filler. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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